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According to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI), nationwide housing affordability jumped 10 percentage points during the first quarter of 2009 to its highest level since the series began 18 years ago. What are the numbers? The HOI showed that 72.5% of all new and existing homes sold in the first quarter of 2009 were affordable to families earning the national median income of $64,000, up from 62.4% during the previous quarter and up from 53.8% during the first quarter of 2008.

This is great news for those looking to buy in the Tampa Bay area. While the median family income is below the national average, homes in the Tampa Bay area have a median price well below the national average. In the first quarter of 2009 according to the HOI out of 232 cities cited and compared with each other, the Tampa Bay area ranks a respectable #120 out of 232 that were cited and compared.

What also helps is the First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit:

A tax credit of up to $8,000 is available for qualified first-time home buyers purchasing a principal residence on or after January 1, 2009 and before December 1, 2009.

If you want more information you can check out this website: http://www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com/2009/index.html 

Or feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

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Who says that people are not buying homes?

As you can see in the graphs below there are many homes for sale. Unfortunately local and national media outlets are not down in the trenches yet somehow feel as though they “know” the heartbeat of the housing market. Despite some of their inaccurate reporting which make it seem as though no one is buying… people are still buying in the Tampa Bay area.

For the month of April 2009 2,527 homes were sold in the Tampa Bay, Florida areas of Hillsborough, Pasco, and Pinellas Counties while 4,274 homes were under contract:

This is a significant increase compared to February when 1,954 homes were sold and 3,307 homes were placed under contract:

As you can see… people are buying which is no surprise.  Despite some biased local and national media, people have to live somewhere so they either buy… or they rent. For the last month there has been an increase though the local and national media seem to inaccurately portray the housing market as a crumbling one. As you can see… locally the numbers clearly show otherwise.

*All reports are published May 2009, based on data available at the end of April 2008.
All reports presented are based on data supplied by the Tampa Florida Association of Realtors, Mid Florida Association of Realtors, Southeast Florida Association of Realtors, Regional MLS, County Association of Realtors, Sarasota Association of Realtors, Englewood Association of Realtors, Manatee Association of Realtors, Venice Association of Realtors or their MLSs. Neither the Associations nor their MLSs guarantee or are in anyway responsible for its accuracy. Data maintained by the Associations or their MLS COPYRIGHT© TRENDGRAPHIX, Inc

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The American Academy of Dermatology is sponsoring a free skin cancer screening campaign.

As a courtesy I am reposting the hyperlink here in case someone reading this wants to check out the dates and locations for Florida:

http://www.aad.org/SkinCancerScreening/LocationSearch.aspx?search=0&location=&state=FL&city=&btnG.x=42&btnG.y=8

For a location nearest you check out this link to do a search:

http://www.aad.org/SkinCancerScreening/LocationSearch.aspx

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Earlier today we went to Countryside Mall. One of the fixtures of this mall is a year-round skating rink which is a plus for those interested in skating and/or in ice hockey:

Rink at Countryside Mall

Countryside Mall, operated by Westfield, boasts an impressive skating rink that offers skate lessons, hockey lessons, figure skating, and Precision Drill Teams. The skating school of operated by the Tampa Bay Skating Academy

It’s operated year-round which is amazing considering that it’s in Florida.

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I (Lana) have lived in Florida for 10 years and this is the first time that it happened to my dog, Princess Hina:

"My" dog, Princess Hina

Last night at about midnight when I took my dog out for a short walk she came into contact with a bufo toad and the toad’s toxins set off a chain of events that were traumatic not only to “my” dog but also traumatic to me to see her react to the toxins.

As I was bringing her back to our home after taking her for a short walk in order to relieve herself, I led her through the door. It was then that I saw that she had a small toad in her mouth. I quickly ran back into our home and noticed that she kept licking her mouth. Note that I have lived in Florida for the last 10 years and am a supporter of the Humane Society and the SPCA and try to keep up with the latest concerning animals in Florida so as soon as I started noticing her licking her mouth I knew that something was “wrong” so I immediately started trying to rinse her mouth with water.

In a matter of a few minutes she started having what looked like spasms to me. She started to defecate on our carpet then started to run in circles. Later her jaw clamped shut and her body was motionless as she was lying on our kitchen floor. All behavior that is uncharacteristic of her so I looked up the number of one of our local animal hospitals and my husband and I immediately drove her there.

I covered her in a blanket then I placed her in a basket that I had in the house. I had to rush her to an animal hospital. If I did not chances are she would have died.

When we arrived the helpful staff person immediately took her and told me that she would be given an IV and some Valium. Throughout the night she experienced seizures. What concerned the vet at the animal hospital was that my dog is only ten pounds and the bufo toad’s toxins may result in damage to her heart and ultimately death so in the midst of this I was in tears.

The next morning my husband and I picked her up at 7:30 a.m. Fortunately she fought the toxinsto take her to our vet at Pasco Animal Hospital and our vet, Dr. Adams, told us that the toxins are finally out of her body which amazes me because our dog is only ten pounds.

I would not want anyone’s dogs to go through the same thing though so please check out these links for more information about the dangers of bufo toad toxins to your pet(s:)

http://www.healthyhomesforkidsandpets.com/articles/bufo.html

http://www.animalhealthcare.com/handouts/general/bufo.htm

I want to commend the staff at Animal Emergency at 8740 U.S. Highway 19 in New Port Richey, Florida for helping my dog get through the seizures. It was traumatic and would not want another dog or pet to go through this watching their dog go into seizures.

If you have time please check out the links that I have posted above and pass it along to other pet “owners” whom you know in Florida. It may be a matter of life… or death for your dog or their dog.

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We are not surprised that in a recent survey first-time home buyers are optimistic considering affordable housing prices and a decreasing 30-year fixed mortgage rate make for an ideal time to buy.

More than three-quarters (78%) of potential first-time home buyers say that now is a good time to buy a home, despite widespread concern about the economy. Out of the 1,000 prospective U.S. first-time home buyers surveyed in early March for the CENTURY 21 First-Time Home Buyer Survey, 68% think now is a better time to buy than six months ago.

You can read it for yourself here:

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20090326005100&newsLang=en

This shows us that these first-time home buyers who were surveyed online (note their methodology on the bottom of the statistics) are noting significant factors that make this an ideal time to buy. In our experience this is typical. When the housing market “corrects” it is typically an advantage to first-time home buyers like how it is now.

So if you are looking to buy you may want to consider buying during this housing market correction.

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On March 19, 2009, the Obama Administration unveiled its new website on its Making Home Affordable Program:

http://makinghomeaffordable.gov

As reported in recent Washington Reports, the program has two main components: (1) refinancing of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans for borrowers who are current and have loan-to-value ratios of 80%-105%, and (2) loan modification for borrowers in default or at imminent risk of default who have high debt-to-income ratios and mortgages with balances up to $729,750.

The new website is designed to make information about eligibility, free counselors, and other program details readily available. It also includes links that let borrowers learn whether they have a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loan. These programs are key elements to help some people buy a home.

If you would like more information please check out their website or contact us for more information.